this is al jazeera. from al jazeera's headquarters in doha, this is the news hour. i'm adrian finnegan. in the next 60 minutes, afghan security forces under heavy attack as they try to retake a city from the taliban. the u.n.'s chief calls for an end to the fighting in yemen after reporting that more than 100 people were killed in a strike on a wedding party. p pretending to be syrian t get asylum. germany says thousands are doing just that, but it is cracking

down. >> sanctuary under the sea. new zealand unveils a massive marine reserve that's twice of country's size. hello. we begin in afghanistan where security forces are struggling to retake the northern city of kundas from taliban fighters. they took control of the city on monday and broke hundreds of prisoners out of jail, many of them their own fighters. let's go live on the front lines with afghan security forces. east just south of kundus. what's the latest on this operation to retake kundus? >> reporter: hundreds of afghan security forces with hundreds of

are going towards kunduz. r there's ied ez, roadblocks, so for three times they tried to break all these ambushes. you can see them. the cameraman can pan. they are waiting here to see what will be next. afghan commanders in the field here telling me they're missing a lack of communication and a lack of leadership. there are many units from different afghan security forces. afghan special forces, afghan army special forces, and afghan is in this operation, but no one wants to take the lead and be the first to try to break the these -- the ie dp d traps and ambushes. >> this was supposed to be the day that afghan forces attempted to retake kun did you see from the taliban. it seems the taliban is gaining

ground here. >> reporter: they say told taliban used the mosque loud speaker and announced to normal identity people in kunduz city telling them that -- to continue with their normal lives, and they could open their shops because they are promising people that they're not going to quick. afghan security forces were promising since early this morning that they will retake kunduz city today. we're seeing that they are facing difficulties as strong resistance from taliban not only into the city, even along the road. these reinforcements forces that before they get close to kunduz city, like 45 kilometers south of kunduz city, they're facing

resistance by taliban from other provinces. >> yesterday the taliban freed some 600 soldiers from the prison -- prisoners rather from the prison in kunduz. what's the significance of that? >> reporter: some people in kunduz city are telling us that they have seen people, prisoners that were released yesterday. today they join the taliban, and they took guns alongside of taliban and fighting against afghan army forces. so it is clear that the taliban were aiming to really break that, because many of their fighters were serving time in that jail and now most of them are behind them. so they gain more troops from that break, and also now just to let you know we are hearing some gun battle behind us. these forces are trying for the fourth time since this morning

to get advanced. i think they were ambushed again. that's what we're hearing. >> thanks indeed. he's on the front lines with afghan forces in bagluno on their way to kunduz at the moment, which is under the control of the taliban. many thanks indeed. the u.n. secretary-general condemned air strikes that have reportedly killed 135 people at a wedding in yemen. these are believed to be the first pictures from a village near the red seaport from houthi rebel television. we're unable to verify their accuracy. saudi arabia, which is leading a military coalition campaign against houthi fighters, denies any involvement in this. >> translator: what targets? you hit a wedding tent with women and children inside. all civilians. 131 of them. so what strategic targets are you talking about?

>> al jazeera has reported extensively from yemen. what do you make from the denial from the saudi-led coalition it had nothing to do with this? >> it falls in line with saudi arabia. they say they don't target civilians. they accuse the houthis of using civilian areas to launch atalks against their rivals. they're worried about this because of the international stance against the ongoing fighting in yemen. >> we have the u.n. secretary-general coming out and condemning it. if the saudi coalition wasn't responsible, who was? >> basically the eyewitnesses say they were in a village when they heard the sound of a fighter jet over the area and there was a huge explosion and that the victims were mostly women and children. so those operating in the area, eyewitnesses, the houthis say that it was an air strike

launched by the saudi-led coalition. >> they have air superiority, doesn't if it? >> it has the air superiority and has managed to undermine the capabilities of the houthis and the forces loyal to him, and now they launch a military operation in that area. >> you mentioned the forces loyal to the former president. who is it that would have been targeted in that part of yemen on the red seacoast there? >> basically houthi fighters and elite army units loyal to the former president thought to have advanced weapons and particularly anti-aircraft machine guns and also ballistic missiles that the saudi-led coalition said in the past it will continue the fight until it destroys most of that hardware or if the houthis pull out from the areas they control. that's when they will put an end to air strikes. >> thanks for that. more now on our top story,

the situation in northern afghanistan where security forces are trying to retake the city of kunduz from the taliban. the director of south asia program as the u.s. institute of peace joins us live from washington, d.c. i don't know whether you hear me speaking to our correspondent on the front lines a few moments ago, but i was putting to him that this was supposed to be the day that afghan forces attempted to retake the city of kunduz from the taliban. it's not going too well so far. what do you make of that? >> yeah, it isn't. quite frankly the fact that the taliban have run over kunduz the way they have, given that they tried this a few months back, is quite mind-boggling. the taliban strategy has been to go into areas which nobody thought they would try, because if you were to ask somebody a year ago, you know, the real areas they would target are the south, kandahar and others where they have their strongholds. this one has come as a surprise

throughout, but i think it's a concerted strategy by the taliban to go north where the nsf is not in numbers, american forces are no longer present, and try and create an effect to show that they are not finished. they can come back, and they can actually take over territory in afghanistan like they did during the '90s. that's exactly what's happened. >> what does this mean for the competence of afghan forces, then, without u.s. assistance? >> well, i think that's the million dollar question, and the next week or ten days will show what that means. if the nsf is able to regain territory without much air support from the u.s. and others, i think you've got a case to be made that they are doing well. right now they weren't positioned in numbers in this part of afghanistan, northern afghanistan, so you can't really say that they haven't managed anything because their forces were really focused on the south. now, if they can do that and if they really need american support to dislodge the taliban,

then i think we are in serious trouble because it does say that the nsf does not have the kind of capacity that they require to keep afghanistan intact. getting american support for every operation like this is not going to be sustainable in the long run. >> you talked about taliban strategy. what is it that the taliban are after there? they tried to make a point with kunduz, or is it all about the prison break yesterday? >> no. i actually think the prison break was a collateral benefit that they got out of it. at the he wanted -- end of the day, this is about an end game where everyone is talking about the taliban not being able to retake territory or rule afghanistan again. the conventional wisdom has been there's a stalemate between the nsf and taliban. i think this is a very clear signal for effect that we can take territory, and if they take two or three more city centers somewhere in the north, i think you'll see people on the fence starting to figure out that the taliban may be coming back and jumping ship.

you have countries like pakistan rethinking strategy and saying, well, if they're going to take over, might as well go and back them. this is going to be a ripple effect, a multiplied effect if the taliban manage to get and then hold territory in the north. >> good to talk to you. thank you for being with us from washington, d.c. you're with the news hour from al jazeera. still to come on the program, a need never greater. the world responds to a call from the u.n. to strengthen peace-keeping efforts. rocking roots. we look at why brazil's growing problem with corruption. later in sports, sepp blatter says he's go nowhere except back to work. we'll be here with all the latest moves in the fifa crisis in sports a little later. now to iraq where for the first time since isil took over the iraqi city of mosul, an air

strike targeted the old city. it's not clear who carried out the strike. tell us why this is so significant. >> reporter: well, it's the first time that we've seen air strikes in the center of mosul now. this is a very densely populated area. both the coalition and iraqi air force is mindful they want to avoid civilian casualties. isil are very much entrenched within the center of the city. they have their administration, which they run mosul from in the center of the city. so this is likely we're being told by diplomatic sources to be an intelligence-led operation against the very specific target, but they won't say what that target was. we know a number of isil fighters were killed in the attack. what's happening? what people from mosul are telling us is they're afraid that these air strikes are going to get closer in time and space within the center of the city. they're fearful and sleep in their cellars and worry this is

the beginning of an operation to go into mosul itself. as i say, this is a densely populated city. mosul won't let the residents leave the city. they need permission to get out, so they won't let them leave. what we see is an isolation of this city. the air strikes have done that quite successfully. we've seen mosul be cut off from isil safe havens in syria as well as in iraq itself. so this is likely to be a very significant operation. it's likely to be an intelligence-led operation. whether it signifies a new operation remains to be seen. >> how do coalition forces and the iraqi air force avoid civilian casualties, and what do we know about the situation inside mosul, which, of course, is under isil control, whether there are medical facilities to treat any civilians who are caught up in any bombing? >> well, isil has taken over the city administratively to say

they have their own hospitals and they have taken over. a lot of people, a lot of residents there are still doing the jobs they were doing before isil did before they took over. there are schools and hospitals and places to be treated. however, getting supplies in and out of mosul is difficult for isil. they tonight allow residents to leave, like i say, and they instilled themselves within civilian areas. it makes it more difficult for coalition air strikes to target where isil have their main hubs, their administrative hubs. it's very difficult. this is why mosul has been a strategic city for isil, because they're able to not only run the city and use it as an income-generating place as well. they're in charge of it administratively. it's a big issue for the iraqi security forces and for the coalition security forces to avoid civilian casualties is the reason why isil thrives within the city itself. >> many thanks from live in baghdad.

the leaders of the u.s. and russia have held face-to-face talks on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly in new york over how best to resolve the conflict in syria. but barack obama and vladimir putin can't see eye to eye on the role of president al assad. james has the report. >> reporter: russia's president normally avoids this annual gathering of world leaders at the u.n., but he came here on a whistle-stop trip planning not even to spend a night in new york, the centerpiece of his speech is the idea of a grand coalition against isil. >> translator: we propose discussing whether it's possible to agree on a resolution aimed at coordinating the actions of all the forces that confront isil and other terrorist organizations. once again, this coordination should be based on the principles of the u.n. charter. >> reporter: that reference to the u.n. charter is important. syria's seat at the u.n. is

still occupied by assad's ambassador. its a coalition including the assad government and on its terms. the u.s. would never accept that, but it and some of its western allies are moderating their position on a future, floating a compromise idea that perhaps he could stay on for a bit in the phase transition to a new government. >> yes, realism dictates that compromise will be required to end the fighting and ultimately stamp out isil. realism always requires a managed transition away from assad and to a new leader and an inclusive government that recognizes there must be an end to this chaos so the syrian people can begin to rebuild. >> reporter: that idea seemed to be immediately dismissed by france and by the first gulf country to speak here, qatar. >> translator: is there an tyranny in the world to

acknowledge ago alternative? is it possible for an tyranny to grow and develop in their shadow? >> translator: i can see diplomatic efforts being made to incorporate bashir al assad in the process, but you can't work together, you can't put together the victims and people killing them. assad is the origin of the problem. he cannot be part of the solution >> reporter: in damascus there may be some concern about the speech made by their staunchest ally. iran wanted the recent nuclear talks to be a model for diplomacy on syria, and president rouhani added this. >> translator: as we aided the establishment of democracy in iraq and afghanistan, we are prepared to help bring about democracy in syria as well as yemen. >> reporter: the real business here takes place away from the speeches in the general assembly chamber. this is the formal lunch with the secretary-general of the united nations sitting between the russian and u.s. leader.

president putin and president obama later held a further meeting to discuss the situation in syria and in ukraine. after four and a half years of war in syria, it's hard to be optimistic, but this is the first serious diplomatic push for 18 months since the collapse of peace talks in geneva. everyone knows a fresh effort to end the conflict will face immense hurdles. james bays, al jazeera, at the united nations. refugees keep streaming into europe. this was the scene at the italian port a day after more than 1,000 refugees were rescued by the ital can coast guard picked up during 11 separate operations off the libyan coast. well, the international organization for migration says that a record 522,000 refugees have reached europe this year alone. more than half of them from syria. 383,000 refugees have arrived in

europe through greece, followed closely by italy with more than 120,000. close to 3,000 have died making the hazardous sea journey, and for those that survive, many hurdles lie ahe had. most take the west balkans route through greece and macedonia and serbia. hungary was the preferred rut for austria and germany. when hungary built a razor-wire fence, refugees were diverted through croatia and slee slovenia. thousands were stranded on the border and it ended on friday when croatia re-opened the main border crossing. a record 10,000 new refugees arrived in croatia the following date. let's speak to the regional director in the middle east for the norwegian refugee council. he joins us live from amman in jordan. we have 5,000-plus refuses that

made it europe and 12 million syrians displaced within the country and more than 4 million living in neighbors countries right now. jordan, lebanon turkey. the world food program says conditions are so bad they will take extreme measures to cope including returning to syria or leaving host countries for elsewhere. i mean, why are things so bad in those camps in the neighboring countries? >> yeah. the situation in the neighboring countries hosting more than 4 million refugees is getting more and more complicated. the resources to address the humanitarian needs are far from where they should be. we only have less than 40% of the resources we need to address the needs.

consequently, now into its fifth year of the crisis, the refugees are getting increasingly desperate. they're running out of their own savings. they're becoming desperate on how to survive from day to day leading to sending children out to work in order to generate a small income. we will see again and again this ongoing decrease of support will force people in their desperation to look elsewhere. >> so is europe's refugee crisis, over half a million refugees now that arrived in europe or having made that perilous journey a direct consequence of that funding shortfall that you talk of? >> it's a consequence of many things. first and foremost, we have to look at the root cause. the horrific war in syria continues, and there's no end in sight. so people inside syria are

suffering at the level we can't imagine. those who have been outside and succeeded to flee the horrific situation in syria is in a situation now where the savings are gone and they need to look for ways to survive and to provide a future for their children, who have been out of school in all this time. young people who have maybe qualified for further education, they have nowhere to go. so if that desperation gets them to look in this case throughout europe. >> so if there was enough aid, money getting to those neighbors countries, lebanon, turkey, jordan, would that prevent, you think, refugees heading towards europe in search of a better life? given the world health program had to cut the food aid in half because there isn't enough funding to feed everyone in those camps, if that problem was

solved could we stop europe's immigration crisis? >> i mean, as i said, it's a consequence of the situation getting worse in neighboring countries. we have to remember that neighboring countries hosting 4 million refugees, they have made an incredible gesture in order to host these people. they're suffering in their own host communities who also need support. so in order to create an environment where both host communities and refugees are actually have a reasonable, reasonable life, we need to secure that both the governments in these countries receive the needed help to provide increased infrastructure in the host communities and provide also abilities for the refugees to have a job, to create the income, to get their children to school and further education for the young people.

that will probably ease the situation, but we have to remember the solution is not feeding the refugees and helping them. the solution is a political engagement of the global leaders to stop and secure that the horrific war in syria comes to an end rather sooner than later. >> good to talk to you. many thanks indeed. regional director in the middle east for the norwegian refugee council. germany's chancellor angela merkel want to speed up the repatriation who arrived in germany but fail the asylum process. the government believes a third of people who say they're from syria are pretending because they know it will improve their chances of getting asylum. laurence lee reporting now from munich. >> reporter: they're still ravshing at the train station in big groups and small. this is the end of a long and

hostile journey for all of them. health workers are on hand to check their temperatures and others are checking whether they are who they say they are. a few days ago we filmed the group in a slovenia town moving as fast as they could to the border with austria. among the number was this man in the red. he said he would do an interview with us. where are you from? >> i'm from syria. >> which city? >> damascus. >> from damascus. you just came here from where? the board from croatia? >> i came here and go to austria and germany. >> in a train station in a separate conversation in french, he admitted to me in fact he was a hotel worker from tunisia. he was pretending because he knew he had no chance of asylum, and the germans don't think he's the only one. this air of suspicion prompted the german government to hire 45 linguistic experts in 80 different languages.

anybody who arrives here has to give a speech sample analyze to verify if they were who they say they are. the german government pains to point out that any solid fake syrians won't have the asylum claim automatically rejebbinged but you have to assume it will make life for difficult for them. we heard similar things from translators as well as at this registration center. the arguments in favor of asking questions, of course, is people who are not in fear of their lives shouldn't be getting in the way of people who are. others say the system shouldn't discriminate. >> you go to this dangerous, long, and strenuous travel to europe. they cross illegally over small boats in the med terran yan. you have a real reason to flee. so i can't really understand why they shouldn't be -- they shouldn't be refugees. >> the other point is inside a

european union that is open to many refugees, the idea some are getting through by pretending is only likely the hardened attitude more. syrians, after all, should hardly have to prove they're really running for their lives. laurence lee, al jazeera in munich. ports are closed and flights have been canceled after a typhoon hit the southeastern coast of china. it struck a province on tuesday morning with wind speeds up to 119 kilometers per hour. let's get the latest on the track of the storm as it crosses the coastline and makes its way inland. i imagine it's pretty wet, rob. >> yes, rain is the main thing. the wind has died down, but we hear from this for the next three or four days as it eventual hi heads to southern japan. it is and certainly was a monster. this is a picture taken and handed to you by the japan agency. not quite to scale, but look at the perfect disk it is. it is a different storm than normal.

it maintains its power until it hit the tip of taiwan where winds are strong. did a certain amount of infrastructure damage because all taipei is vulnerable, the evacuation took place and deaths are limited to three with a storm this size is pretty good. this is a false image picture of the rainfall extent, and you can see taiwan in there. the whole of taiwan is covered in rain in all directions, and rain is still the problem. several hundred millimeters of it. the eye closed and the storm went across the straits of taiwan. it's now over land and no longer really a storm in the true sense. it's not a resolving tropical storm, but i want to show you where it is. however, the rain as i said to adrian is the main thing. current strength is under 100 kilometers per hour. it's 150 millimeters, but it's an awful lot more to come.

adrian. >> many thanks indeed. we approach the midway point on the news hour. still to come on the program, we look at why more elderly people fend for themselves on the streets of the philippines. life on mars could be a real possibility. scientists reveal evidence of flowing water on the red planet. security fears put two big sports events in doubt in bangladesh. we have all the details with andy a little later until the program.

hello. thz the news hour from

al jazeera. adrian in doha. the top stories, afghanistan's army has been brought to a halt by the taliban as it attempts to retake the captured city of kunduz. the taliban seized control of kunduz on monday and broke hundreds of prisoners out of jail. many of them are their own fighters. in iraq an air strike has targeted the old city of mosul for the first time since isil took control there. it's not clear who carried out the strike. the old city is very densely populated, and 17 people are reported to have been killed. the u.n. secretary-general has condemned an air strike that's reportedly killed up to 135 people at a wedding in yemen. a houthi rebel tv station has aired pictures of scene near. we're unable to verify if there. the saudi-led coalition denies any involvement. it's been a year since the president took power in afghanistan. it was the first peaceful democratic transition in the country's history, but unemployment is increasing,

security is weakening. as jennifer glasse reports, many afghans aren't happy with their government's performance in the first 12 months. >> reporter: his brooms sell for 80 cents apiece, the bus is terrible and many customers can't pay their bills. last year he had great expectations for the government, but now he says it's the worst of times. >> reporter: there's no work, no business. i had to take my children out of school to work. i wanted my children to be educated, but i need them to help support the family. >> reporter: ghani showed to fight corruption. they're still heavily dependent on foreign aid. he promises to support women's rights chls his wife has taken a prominent role, rare for an afghan first lady. the government says it's making

progress. afghans say they don't see it. >> translator: we haven't seen any support of women's rights. there's actually more violence. women without education sit at home. there's no work for them. the youth of this country have already fled. nothing is left for the people. >> reporter: afghans are leaving in record numbers because they can't find work or are worried about security. there have been deadly suicide attacks in the heavily fortified afghan capital, and the taliban with fighting in many areas around the country. nearly 15,000 afghan security forces die or were injured in the first eight moss of 2015, a 30% increase over last year. >> on the security side the forces are struggling with a high number of casualties, which is not sustainable in the long term. politically that's not functioning. >> reporter: it took the government nearly six months to agree on cabinet members amid rumors of political in fighting

between president ghani and his chief executive. defense minister remains unfiled with an acting minister making security decisions. the afghan president has asked the afghan people to be patient, that change takes time. this time last year he had two things he lacks now, momentum and the people's support. analyst ha room mere says a failure to reach consensus between the president and the country's chief xekts active abdullah abdullah has been stifling the economy. >> one of the problems -- a major problem has been this difference of opinion between the two leaders, because they have not been able to come together on a unique strategy or policy for the afghan government. there was -- there has been some serious argument particularly on

appointments of senior government officials, and that will certainly hurt the government's performance and the afghan economy has collapsed in the past one year because the economy is not functions. they're no revenue. the government is lacking the capacity to generate enough revenue for itself because it's more dependent on the financial assistance for its operation value. the government has no plan for it, and unfortunately, there are other serious issues now that take priority and particularly security for kunduz is an important city to note. it's a priority for the government in that worsening of the cities in the entire country will not allow the government to look and focus on economic and financial issues. >> 500 inmates escaped from a prison in the central african republic. the jailbreak follows three dailies of intercommunal fighting. 42 people have been killed in

retaliatory attacks between christian and muslim fighters. the violence prompted entthe interim president to fly home early from the u.n. general assembly in new york. the unrest led to protests calling for the redeployment of armed forces in the central african government. a u.n. backed government is yet to rearm the military which was sidelined after muslim seleka rebels seized power two years ago. u.s. president barack obama chaired a u.n. peace heef keeping summit securing pledges for another 40,000 troops and police officers worldwide. the u.s. contributes few peacekeepers but does pay a quarter of the u.n.'s budget and that's crucial funding for missions needed now more than ever. gabe reports. >> reporter: from south sudan at that haiti, the strain on united nations peace-keeping troops has never been greater. the u.s. says they need much more support, and the a special summit on monday president

barack obama took the first step. >> as the largest financial contributor to the u.n. peacekeeping operations, the united states intends to continue to do its part. today i'm issuing new presidential guidance. the first in more than 20 years to expand our support for u.n. peace operations. >> but that's mostly in the form of money and military logistical support and not a big increase in american troops on the ground. for that the u.s. is looking to its european allies and the rest of the world to boost the piece keepers' ranks. at the u.n., china muches one of the biggest countries to answer the call. >> translator: china has decided to take the lead in setting up a permanent peacekeeping police squad and build a peacekeeping stand-by force of 8,000 troops. >> reporter: countries are also giving billions of dollars for

new equipment and better training, something urgently needed as peacekeeping makes headlines for all the wrong reasons. casting an ugly shadow over the summit, a range of sexual abuse allegations involving peacekeepers most recently in the central african republic. some of the allegations involve rape against children. leaders at the summit were clear it has to stop. >> we have to insist on zero tolerance for abuse. zero. >> reporter: the hope is fresh reforms and funds will usher in a new era in u.n. peacekeeping. >> i think the conference sends a signal that it's no longer business as usually in u.n. peacekeepi peacekeeping, and some couldn'ts in africa and asia got lazy in their approach to peacekeeping and have to raise their game, and that includes improving their attitude over sexual abuse and corruption. >> reporter: reform and better equipped and funded forces at this summit an acknowledgment

it's necessary to meet the demand in a world where people tasked with keeping the peace are needed now more than ever. gabriel elizondo, al jazeera at the united nations. two men described as russian special forces soldiers have gone on trial in ukraine on terrorism charges. they're accused of killing ukrainian troops during fighting in eastern ukraine. the russian government says the men were not serving soldiers when they were detained in may. an intelligence group which monitoring online activity says that isil is claiming responsibility for killing an italian aid worker in bangladesh. gunmen on a motorbike shot the worker in the dabbing ka. the u.s. and british diplomats restrict their movements following the murder. the mayor of a small brazilian town turned herself in after being on a run for a month. the 25-year-old is accused of stealing more than $4 million

from public funds. a second mayor in the same state is accused of misappropriating public money. as we report, corruption in local government is a growing problem in brazil. >> reporter: in brazil's northeastern state, it's a sort of quiet agricultural town of which not much is heard. it has a type of local government under the federal system leads to a catastrophic misuse of public resources. a year ago eight students were killed in a car accident on the way back to school. the deaths might have been prevented if they were riding in a school bus for which funds were available, but the bus was never bought. instead they rode home in the back of this pickup truck. the extent of local corruption became painfully evident. >> translator: she was my little girl. i wish i'd been there to yank her out of the truck. i want justice, but nothing here changes. the mayor should be condemned.

he should have bought the school buses. >> reporter: instead of justice, these bereaved parents have received death threats on thur phone. >> translator: they can send all the threats they want. i will not give up. >> reporter: that's not an isolated case. almost half of the mayors in other local authorities in this area have been accused of corruption. >> translator: in communities with greater needs, the amount of money coming in is higher and oftentimes funds get deviated. our judicial system is plagued with loopholes that even if found guilty, authorities can return to power. >> reporter: 17 students survived the crash, but the memories of that night's event changed them forever. >> translator: my life will never be same. i always dreamt of being a firewoman, and now i'm always sad, always remembering my friends and thinking of how sad their parents are.

>> reporter: although school buses were finally purchased, other public works like these have stopped while the local majors investigate the misal indication of funds. this was built to honor the memory of the eight victims that died here so the relatives of these victims show how endemic is in the area. whales, dolphins, sharks and all sorts of sea life are to be protected off the coast of new zealand. fishing is being banned as one of the world's largest ocean sanctuaries is created in the south pacific. jerrold tan reports. >> reporter: this region is one of the most isolated places on earth. hundreds of marine species live in the waters, many of them unique and some endangered. >> this is probably one of the most significant announcement that's been made in marine prediction, because this is one of the last pristine sites in our ocean that is being

preserved because this is an area that's uninhabited by humans and it's such a large area. >> reporter: new zealand's prime minister reviewed plans for the ocean sanctuary during his visit to the u.n. general assembly. he says the reserve will encompass 620,000 square kilometers. >> this is in the area twice the size of our land mass and 50 times the size of our largest national park. it is truly a special place, and we want to keep it that way. >> reporter: the announcement gained immediate attention. >> just over an hour ago with the united nations, the prime minister of new zealand, john key, made an announcement we can all celebrate. >> reporter: not everybody is celebrating. mining and fishing are now banned from the area, although some of the industries are upset, the government says the benefits outweigh the costs. >> i'm confident that the majority of new zealanders would say actually that it is a loss economically but well worthwhile

for our global contribution for environmental protection of the oceans. >> reporter: new zealand says it will be policed use satellites and defense patrols. new laws expect to come into force within the next year to protect the region for generations to come. jerrold tan, al jazeera. stay with us here on the news hour. all the sports straight ahead. we tell you why the players weren't the only ones ready to shoot at this brazilian football match.

there's great concern in the philippines over how millions of elderly people are left to fend by themselves. some are abandoned about by their own children and government run centers. their only hope to get off the streets from manila. >> she's 101. for 40 of those years, she's worked on this footpath. a widow with no children she says she'll stay here until the day she dies. >> translator: i don't want to be too much of a bother, child. one must do what one can do. if you can't, then you must suffer through it. that's how life is, child. >> reporter: lola's situation is rear in the philippines where the elderly are cared for by extended family, but more are fending for themz. many wander the streets until they're found by social services. this is the largest of only four government-run centers for the

elderly in the philippines. spread across ten hectares and made to look like a local village, there are 240 clients here at the moment. they get their needs tended to for free round the clock. to be accepted here, the elderly must have no where else to go and no family to care for them. their numbers were always small, but that's no long the case. the government estimates that close to 1.5 million elderly people have been left on their own, and social workers are concerned that many have been abandoned on purpose. so institutions like this will take them in at no cost to the family. >> the main reasons why they are here is because they were abandoned by their own children because of work outside the home. their children want to earn and there's no one left behind to care for the needs.

>> she's been here since her husband died three years ago. as best she knows, her children are working in the u.s. she lost touch with them years ago. >> translator: even if i'm not with family, i'm grateful to god that i was brought here. i am lucky. i don't go hungry. we have medicine and someone to care for us. we have everything here. >> more families are asking the center to take in relatives and some are willing to pay. it's a development social workers are reflective of a change in filippino society. but on the walk in the old town, lola prepares to sleep for the night. she won't be moved, she says, no matter how much the world changes around here. al jazeera, manila. all right. time now for sports. here's andy. >> thank you so much, adrian. one of the men hoping to become the next fifa president says there needs to be an emergency meeting of the footballing

world. they believe an interim task force should take over from sepp blatter. now he's the subject of a criminal investigation. blatter was back at headquarters before dawn on tuesday. on monday his lawyers released a statement said he did nothing illegal or improper and he intends to stay in his job until someone is elected next january. while he's accused of make a disloyal payment to pettini, pettini denies any wrongdoing. the billionaire businessman played a key role to bring the worpd cup to his country in 2002 and says he can bring meaningful change to fifa. >> the most ardent task at hand is to root out corruption from fifa. the investigations into illegal activities of the past should be left to the proper legal authorities. jut must be served.

re ses at a timing fifa should be left to those that love football. >> fifa's own ethics committee is investigating the allegations blatter faces. it has the power to suspend them. they gave former fifa vice president warner a life ban from all related activity. the committee says that he committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly. warner also fighting extradition to the u.s. on corruption charges at the moment. the european champions league, chelsea manager told his players no one had a guaranteed future at the club. the team are in the bottom half of the premier league but won the first game against tel aviv. they played in porto a little later on. >> to be a winner, you must have

a strong mentality every game every day. in these moments i don't have that. i have very good players. i have players that i like very, very much, but untouchables in football, only consistency can give you that status. barcelona is without messi for the game. messi hurt his knee during a game on saturday. he could be out for up to eight weeks. that would see him missing five la liga games and three champions league games. >> translator: a player like leo messi is irreplaceable, but we have to keep going forward. it's a very tough challenge for us and the team to stay competitive without our best player. it's a motivation and very attractive challenge, but to replace a player like messi is impossible. >> eight games in all coming up this tuesday. there's the other game in

barcelona's group. they're on a 45-game unbeaten run. arsenal takes on oly mr. piakos. their manager admits they have much to prove in the competition. >> we're going to take it back now, because in the last two years barcelona won the champions league and the year before it was real madrid who won the championship. you have to say we're the better teams. we have to show that resolve. australia's cricket tour of bangladesh is looking increasingly unlikely to go ahead. the head of security is returning from there to brief the team after assessing the situation there. the australians have already delayed their departure after the country raised the security threat level for bangladesh. britain and the united states followed after the shooting of an italian in the diplomatic area. the tour was to begin on

saturday with a warm-up game. australia is at the world cup qualifier in bangladesh in november looks to be in doubt. we have more from dakar. >> while they assumed the tour would go ahead once assurances about safety were made, that may no longer being the place. that may be a big blow for the team. the tigers were on an unprecedented run of success this year against heavyweights, india, pakistan and south africa. now people are anxiously raising the example of the pakistan team, which has been in decline partly due to years of teams refusing to tour there because of security concerns. australia will be without two players for the rest of the rugby world cup campaign. pallo and will skeltan has tournament-ending injuries on

sunday. they have a huge game against host england coming you up. >> we have become a tight-knit family over the period, so we feel for those lads. at the same time, we understand that's part of the game, and that's going to show the depth of that we've got and the quality of the players coming in. >> in a couple of hours time namibia will aim to secure their first ever world cup win. they're taking on tonga. the african side lost 58-14 to new zealand in the opening. if they can win this one, it's the first world cup win victory in 17 attempts. now, when a referee draws a red card from his pocket, it can often spark a heated exchange. one official went even further than that after being abused by a player he was trying to send off, he drew a gun. it's not a mexican standoff. it was a brazilian one.

the linesman did manage to defuse the situation. thankfully no one was hurt. the referee not surprisingly faces losing his license, his career ending with that draw. for morel analysis kreis engulfing fifa, go to our website. former vice president jack warner banned from football for life. aljazeera.com/sports. more from me later on, adrian. >> i like what you did there. draw. scientists at nasa say they found strong evidence of liquid water on mars. that means that life could, could exist on the red planet. john hendron reports. why were nasa scientists say the red planet is not the desolate, dry place they long thought it was. >> today we're revolutionizing our understanding of this planet. our rovers are finding that there's a lot more humidity in the air than we ever imagined.

we ingest the soils, and they're moist. they're hydrated and full of water. mars is not the dry, arid planet that we thought of in the past. today we're going to announce that under certain circumstances liquid water has been found on mars. >> researchers say a few billion years ago mars was covered with rivers, lakes and possibly an ocean, but they believed only a small amount of frozen water remained. now nasa says a camera on the mars reconnaissance orbiter saw flows on the red planet, a basic building block of life. they say a water cycle changes over the course of the year like the water cycle on earth. >> they form in late spring, grow through the summer and disappear by fall. >> that raises the possibility of life, possibly microbal life.

>> today's announcement of a really fascinating result about kurnlt water on mars is one of the reasons why i feel it's even more imperative that we send astro biologists and plane netary scientists to mars to explore the question of, is there current life on mars? >> reporter: the possibility of life on mars has been envisioned in science-fiction but largely dismissed. >> i swear, there's nothing here. >> it's mars. >> the finding also raises the possibility that despite wildly varying temperatures that range from 56 to 21 celsius, it might be possible to grow food in greenhouses on the surface. the latest discovery leaves many mysteries unresolved. they don't know where the water comes from or what besides salt is in in. fascinating. stand by. i'll be back with another full bulletin of news on al jazeera in a few moments. see you soon.

afghan security forces under heavy attack as they try to retake their city from the taliban. ♪ hello this is al jazeera, live from doha, i'm adrian finighan. world leaders are speaking at the u.n. general assembly in new york. the u.n. chief calls for an end in fighting in yemen after more than a hundred people were kill in a strike on a